Welcome to Bolton Interfaith Council [BIC]

"Working towards building trust and understanding between all our diverse communities"

The mission of the Bolton Interfaith Council is to promote harmony, understanding and co-operation between all members of the Bolton community, especially with regards to issues that relate to faith, belief & working together as one community.

The Bolton Interfaith Council's (BIC) management committee consists of representatives from the three main faith groups and other community members. BIC is a member of the national Interfaith Network- UK and works with Bolton Council as well as community and voluntary sector.

As we approach the New Year of 2017 with renewed hope and energy to further build upon the good work we have done over the years. The strength of our work lies in "working, supporting and sustaining partnerships" - which is vital if people of shared vision for community peace, harmony, mutual respect, tolerance and building trust work together.

The role of interfaith is to bring people together - regardless of any differences through various events and projects to celebrate the diversity we have in our towns and country. Interfaith work - through dialogue, discussion, respect and education is of huge importance in today's troubled world. Hence projects like the faith trails, Young Ambassadors, Networking forum and others have immense value in community cohesion.

With support from our partners, places of worships, schools, volunteers and many individuals, we hope to be more progressive in our work.

A Statement from Bolton Faith Leaders' Forum on the Manchester Attack:

Today we stand together in prayer and solidarity with the people of Manchester following the shocking attack at the Arena last night. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was present and especially with those who have been injured, endangered or whose whereabouts are still being established. Above all we hold in our prayers all those families who have lost loved ones in this terrible act of violence.

As representatives of all faith communities in Bolton, we condemn wholeheartedly and without reservation the actions of the attacker and whatever ideology drove him to such extremes. We salute the courage and resilience of the first responders, all the emergency services personnel and the people who threw open their doors to welcome strangers into their homes and provide a place of refuge.

Along with leaders across Greater Manchester and our country, we acknowledge that today is a day of sadness and grief, but we also pledge our continuing determination to stand together in the face of evil and to show that our values are stronger. Those who carry out such acts want to spread division and hatred; theirs is a message of suffering and death. We stand for a world united in love, peace, freedom, justice and compassion and today that message is needed more than ever.

We call upon all people of faith to remember in their prayers the families and communities affected by this incident and to continue to show by our everyday lives the values of love, peace and respect for all as a sign of our enduring commitment to a more cohesive town and a more human world.

Canon Matt Thompson

Chair of Bolton Faith Leaders' Forum

Issued on behalf of:

Bolton Faith Leaders' Forum

Bolton Christian Community Cohesion

Bolton Council of Mosques

Bolton Hindu Forum

Bolton Interfaith Council

Forthcoming Events (apart from faith trails and young ambassadors).

20/08/17 - Support Community Walk Please See Poster
17/10/17 - "prayers for world peace" to be held at Venue TBC.
12 to 19 November National Interfaith Week many activities to follow.

With Support from Swaminarayan Mandir, Bag Pipe Band and Krishna Mandir, and members of public we collected

£1321.00

in aid of Manchester Terror attack. Money has been donated to British Red Cross from One Bolton Family. Thank you everyone for your support.

Unfortunately there has been an increase in Hate Crime recently with abuse insults, comments and graffiti at places of worships and aimed at individuals. BIC along with many of our partners wish to condemn such behaviour as any kind of Hatred has no place in our society".

"We would love to hear from you - your views matter to us:- either comments, compliments or suggestions - regarding this BIC website; as well as the community cohesion work of the Bolton Interfaith Council."